Damon Estate being sued for broker commission
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island businessman claims he is owed a commission for the $22 million sale of Kahuku Ranch in Ka'u to the U.S. Department of the Interior and is suing the trustees and estate of Samuel Mills Damon.
The 116,000-acre real-estate transaction nearly doubled the size of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to 217,000 acres.
Kenneth Fujiyama, a longtime Big Island real-estate broker, says he approached Damon Estate executive director James M. Whitman on March 5, 1999, about brokering the sale of the ranch. Fujiyama wanted assurances he would be paid a commission if he found a buyer, and about two weeks later brought Whitman a letter guaranteeing the estate would "protect" Fujiyama on the issue of real-estate fees before he disclosed the potential buyers, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Hilo Circuit Court.
The lawsuit says that Whitman told Fujiyama the following week in a telephone call that the trustees were unwilling to sign the letter unless they knew the identity of the potential buyers.
Fujiyama "was told by Whitman that the trustees were all honorable men, and that plaintiff could rely on them," according to the suit. Fujiyama contends he brought a letter of understanding and option agreement form to Whitman, including an "understanding" of his commission, and identified the potential buyers as the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.
The estate then sent Fujiyama a letter indicating it did not want him to negotiate the sale to the Department of the Interior, the suit says. The estate later sold the ranch for about $22 million.
The suit claims Fujiyama is entitled to a commission (no dollar amount is specified in the filing), and seeks lawyers' fees and interest as well.
Whitman has retired from Damon Estate and was unavailable for comment. The estate did not respond to a request for a comment on the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the park said former park superintendent Jim Martin handled the acquisition discussions. Martin has since retired and was unavailable for comment.
The Damon Estate was once the state's fourth-largest private landowner, but has been selling assets to end the trust as required upon the death of Samuel Mills Damon's last living grandchild, who died in November at age 84.
Fujiyama's family owns land on the Big Island, and he is chief executive officer of Volcano House and Hilo's Nani Mau Gardens.
